Farringdon station platforms

Farringdon station is a London Underground and National Rail station in Farringdon, just north of the City of London in the London Borough of Islington.

It is on the Metropolitan, Hammersmith & City and Circle lines, between King's Cross St. Pancras and Barbican. The station serves Thameslink trains which run from Brighton to Bedford, calling en route at Gatwick Airport, or from Luton to Sutton. Some Thameslink trains also run into Moorgate and terminate there rather than continuing south via City Thameslink. Farringdon is in Transport for London's Travelcard Zone 1.

The station was opened on 10 January 1863 as the terminus of the original Metropolitan Railway, the world's first underground metro system. The station, which was initially named Farringdon Street, was originally located a short distance from today's building. The line ran from Farringdon to Paddington, a distance of 6 km. The station was relocated on 23 December 1865 when the Metropolitan Railway opened an extension to Moorgate. It was renamed to Farringdon and High Holborn on 26 January 1922 and to its present name on 21 April 1936.

Farringdon station building

The station building is an unusually well-preserved piece of early 20th-century London Underground architecture; it still has its original signage (with the name "Farringdon and High Holborn" on the facade) and other indications of the Metropolitan Railway's ambitions to be like the mainline companies, with a sign for a "Parcel Office" surviving on the exterior wall!

The station drastically requires expansion, however, and is very busy at peak times. There have been plans to increase the station's passenger capacity for several years, as part of the Thameslink 2000 project, though these have yet to come to fruition. If, as is planned, Crossrail line 1 calls here, substantial upgrade works may be required.

It is also quite interesting to note that local business rent rates have also dropped recently, with the north-south closure of the Thameslink for additional construction work at St Pancras. If the Crossrail 1 project does go ahead, linking Farringdon with the Thameslink, the station will become one of the most important transport interchanges in central London.

Nearest places:

• Clerkenwell
• Barbican Estate
• Holborn
• Old Street
• Shoreditch

External links